Disease as a somatic and existential phenomenon

Vol. 32 Iss. 2 pp. 188–193 | St. Petersburg State Institute of Psychology and Social Work | ISSN: 1993-8101
2019 • Issue 2 • Volume 32Discussion club

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Abstract

The article deals with the disease as a somatic and existential phenomenon. The author proceeds from the fact that the experience of the disease is the most important component of the daily experience of any person's life. The author points out that chronic disease participates in the establishment of a very special "world", different from the one in which "healthy" people live a normal life – "world" with special logic, ontology and ethos. The dichotomy in the understanding of the disease can be formulated as follows: either we continue to consider the disease as something like a fixable (or not) machine failure, or we recognize the fundamental component of subjective experience and then the analysis of subjective meanings is mandatory.

Keywords

disease as an existential event, medicalization of life, narrative of disease, asthenization of the patient

Citation

Citation — Harvard Notation

References

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